Ascendas readies first phase of IT real estate space in Chennai

The International Tech Park, Chennai (ITPC), is likely to be occupied in phases beginning October. The 5.5 lakh square feet park is the first leg of the 3 million square feet of information technology real estate that Singaporean company Ascendas plans to build in Chennai.

The 5.5 lakh square feet of ITPC is its first phase and required an investment of Rs 130 crore. Two more phases of ITPC are to come up over the next 18-24 months. All the three phases together would need an investment of about Rs 450 crore and will offer about 1.7 million square feet of IT real estate.

Ascendas holds 89 per cent of the equity in ITPC, said Goh Kok Huat, CEO of Ascendas India, at a press conference on Tuesday. The balance is held by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco).

Tidco's contribution to ITPC has come primarily in the form of making available land for the project.

Ascendas will manage the park once it opens. Jonathan Yap, who heads South India operations of Ascendas India, said that about 80 per cent of ITPC has already been leased out. Advanced negotiations are on for the residual space.

Companies that have leased out space in ITPC include Amazon, iNautix and Visual Graphics.

Ascendas' next big real estate development is to take place in Mahindra City, outside Chennai. The company plans to develop about 1 million square feet of space for IT and ITES sectors there.

Real estate projects

Ascendas runs a private real estate trust fund with a corpus of about Rs 1,000 crore for its projects in India. Among the investors in this private fund is GE Real Estate. Ascendas aims to double the corpus in the next 12-24 months.

Ascendas India's CEO Goh Kok Huat said the India dedicated fund is fully invested. The investments have gone in to Ascendas' Bangalore and Hyderabad real estate projects.

Huat said that at some point in time, Ascendas may choose to put its Chennai projects into an IT Park fund.

Regardless of where the ownership of Ascendas developed projects lies, the company plans to manage the IT parks.

In ITPC, Huat said that Ascendas would get Planet Yum and Barista to run the refreshment outlets in the park. He emphasised on the company's aim of providing an international business lifestyle for people employed in the IT park.

The listed rate for leased space in the park is Rs 44-45 a square foot. The actual rate may, however, differ.